Agrabah: The Beginning
by Claude Amelia Song
Summary: Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen who ruled together in the magical world of Agrabah and they had two wonderful daughters.


Written for QLFC

Round 4 Forgotten Families  
We have the Potters, we have the Malfoys, and we have the Weasleys. All wonderfully well known and lovable families. But what about the smaller, important, but less significant families? Let's not forget about them! For this round, you will be writing about those forgotten families! You can have multiple members, or just one; so long as the focus is around your given family.

Pride of Portree

Chaser 3 : The Patils

Optional prompts:

5.(word) print

11.(song) Not For You - Natalie Bassingthwaite  
13.(scenario) a character is granted three wishes

Words: 2919

Betaed by Amna,Oni and Jessica. Thank you very much!

* * *

Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen who ruled together in the magical world of Agrabah. There were no wars or crimes in the kingdom, and all was fair and just.

Sadly, it was not to last. For the king and queen would commit a terrible crime.

The queen and king had twin daughters named Padma and Parvati. They were as beautiful as the sun and the moon, and they loved each other very much. Sadly, the girls had never known the love of their parents. They had only each other and their nursemaid.

Their parents had adored them when they were infants. Unfortunately, not long after, Fate had struck its deal with Destiny and a prophecy had been foretold: one of the princesses was fated to become the most evil sorceress in history.

This knowledge tore their family apart. The queen couldn't bear the thought of loving a monster. And, not knowing which one of her identical daughters it could be, she pushed both of them away.

No matter how hard the girls tried, they could not move the hearts of their parents. Others had tried as well, telling them that it was not right to shut out one's own children based on a mere prophecy that might never come true.

Still, though, their hearts were unmoved. They did refuse to put their daughters to death because they knew that only one was fated to become the evil sorceress. By law, not even they could condemn an innocent to death.

Though killing an innocent was forbidden, they had devised another way of handling their problem. They had noticed that Padma appeared to be starting down a dark path. Padma was quiet. She liked to read and study. She stared at her parents with a calculating look in her eyes.

On the twins' eighth birthday, they decided to to do something about it.

Padma was dragged from the the library to the throne room and forced down to her knees in front of her parents. Parvati had screamed when the guards had taken her sister. Padma went quietly, but not before slipping her ring to her twin.

Originally, Padma had been trying to make matching necklaces of the sun and moon, the kingdom's symbols, for her parents. They, however, had rejected her gifts. It was then that Padma realized that not even the real sun and the real moon would be enough for her parents. Yoni and Astaraz were never going to see past the spectre of the evil sorceress hanging over them.

So Padma had started to learn magic.

After much practice, she had managed to create a charmed object. It was a binding spell, one that connected the spellcaster with the ring so that she could find it if she lost it. She just hoped it would be enough. It anchored a part of her in the ring, so her sister would still have a connection with her.

"Do you know why you are here?" the queen asked.

Padma nodded, but said nothing. She knew there was nothing she could say to change their minds.

She wondered what they were going to do with her. Padma looked up to see her father, no, the king, entering the chamber with an old man who held a lamp in his hands.

"What are you going to do with me?" she whispered, suddenly afraid. The old man looked at her with pure hatred.

"Silence!" One guard shouted, cuffing the little princess on her shoulder and making her cry in pain.

The man laughed. "I'm going to make sure you won't hurt anyone ever again."

 _I would never,_ Padma wanted to scream, but she knew it was useless.

The old man touched the lamp and shouted, "Genie of the lamp, I command you to come forward!"

Padma's eyes widened. A genie?

With an explosion of smoke and flame, a blue man appeared out of thin air and bowed in front of him.

"Master, what can I do for you? This is your last wish, so choose carefully," the genie said.

The man smiled. "I want you to trap this girl somewhere she cannot hurt anyone. Where her evil nature cannot develop and she will never be seen again."

The genie bowed. "As you wish, Master."

Padma disappeared before their eyes. The king and queen breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could finally live free of their fear.

Alas, it was not to be. One cannot cheat fate and escape destiny. In trying to avoid it, one can can only aid it in becoming true.

In the act of sending Padma away, Yoni and Astaraz had done exactly that.

They thought she had been trapped or was finally dead, but little did they know that she was still in the castle with her sister.

It is said that when dealing with a genie, one must be sly and cunning; each wish must be worded as carefully as one would read the fine print of a magical contract. Unfortunately for Yoni and Astaraz, the old man they had hired to banish their daughter was neither of these things.

The genie had sensed Padma's link with the ring and, sensing that affinity, his magic transformed her into a ghostly version of herself. She was trapped in between the world of the living and the afterlife, silently watching over her sister just as she'd wished.

The genie knew that the king and queen had chosen the wrong twin to trap, so he used the vagueness of the wish to aid Padma as much as he could. In essence, Padma had been trapped as her sister's guardian.

Back at the castle, things had changed for Parvati too. Though they'd slammed the doors to the throne room in her face, she had heard everything.

For the first time in her life, Parvati was filled with fury. Something in her heart broke when her sister was so heartlessly sealed away in some unknown place by her own flesh and blood. She had been kept in the dark and surrounded by lies.

* * *

Ten years passed. Parvati plotted to avenge her sister and trained tirelessly in the magical arts in hopes of making her parents pay. Padma spent that time filled with sadness as she watched her sister's heart grow darker and darker by the day.

Once Padma had been banished, the king and queen had begun to treat Parvati with love and affection. Parvati smiled and played along, but inside she was biding her time. Little did they know that it was far too late for them to reclaim their daughter's love.

Four days after her sister's disappearance, Parvati had met Master J., a wizard who had offered to secretly teach her magic. Over the years, he had only reinforced her hatred for her parents, and the world. Before long, the confused and angry eight-year old girl had grown into a powerful sorceress. It was far too late when her parents realised their mistake.

They had tried to capture her, but she had escaped with her master's help. Master J. promised Parvati that once they got their revenge on the king and queen, that he would help her find her sister. First, however, he told her it was essential that she found the lamp.

Truth be told, Master J. had his own agenda and the young princess, now turned fugitive, was just a means to get what he wanted: the kingdom to rule and the genie to control. He too knew about her fate. As far as he was concerned, he just helped things along.

Parvati searched tirelessly for the lamp in the hopes that she could wish her sister back, but it had been hidden well.

Meanwhile, Master J. had started a war with the royal family and he was winning. The king and queen had been taken prisoner, but there was still a resistance, made up of the magical beings that resided within Agrabah. Master J. was not worried. Once he had the lamp and complete control over the genie, no magical force would ever be able to stop him.

Fate, however, was not on his side.

It wasn't long until Parvati tracked down the old man and his lamp. He was summoned to the palace and shown into the throne room, as before. This time, however, Parvati was sitting on the throne with Master J. sitting to her right. She kept her face covered with a veil so that the man would not recognize her.

"Your Highness." The man bowed in front of her.

"Enough pleasantries," came her sharp retort. "You took something very important from me and I want it back. Now." She commanded.

"Your Highness?" The man looked confused.

Parvati pulled her veil away from her face and snarled. "I want the lamp. So be a nice old man and give it to me."

The man recoiled in shock.

"Over my dead body." he said, and a ball of light appeared in his hand.

"That can be arranged." She reached forward as if to grab him, but did not touch him.

The old man was lifted off of the ground by her magic and began choking, unable to do anything to free himself. Her hold was too strong.

"Have mercy, please…" he managed to whisper.

Parvati's eyes darkened. " _Me_? Mercy! _Never_."

"Then our attempts to stop the prophecy were in vain. Your parents chose the wrong sister. You are indeed the evil one. You wouldn't even spare an old man," the man choked out, fear in his eyes.

Parvati dropped him in a heap and watched him breathing in ragged gasps. "Oh, I would spare _an old man_. And I have mercy, but not for you. _Never_ for you. You are the one who took my sister away from me," Parvati said, tears in her eyes. "Now, bring the lamp and summon the genie or I will _make_ you regret defying me."

The man bowed his head again. "I cannot call him, but you may take the lamp." He pulled the golden object from within his robes and threw it to the ground at Parvati's feet. With that, Parvati summoned the guards to have him thrown into the dungeon.

As she touched the lamp, the blue genie appeared in front of her.

"Mistress, I am yours to command. You get three wishes. No more, no less," he said, looking at her with wide eyes. He could see that she was nearly identical to the girl he had been forced to trap years ago. They widened even further when he noticed his former master on the floor.

"Well, what do you want?" the genie asked, afraid of the answer he was going to receive. There was so much darkness in her eyes.

"I…" she started, but before she could say anything, Master J. approached them. He smiled, his eyes focused on the lamp in her hand.

"Now, my dear, it's time for your revenge," the sorcerer said, looking gleefully at the lamp and transporting them into the dungeons where her parents were held.

"Destroy them, princess," he said, pointing to her parents who had been kept prisoners for years.

The genie watched her carefully and then spoke.

"Do you really wish for this, Mistress? Do you have no mercy?"

"Silence!" Master J. shouted, but the genie behaved as if he hadn't spoken at all.

"Do you really want for them to die? For this kingdom to suffer?"

"I have no mercy," said Parvati, "Not for them."

"Then give the command, stupid girl!" shouted Master J, not realising just how inhuman he looked in that moment.

Parvati looked at her parents again; they were wasting away. She looked around the dungeons at the prisoners, her people, and something suddenly snapped inside of her.

With a trembling voice, she whispered

"Genie of the lamp, I wish for my parents and people to be saved."

The genie smiled.

"Your wish is my command."

"What are you doing?!" Master J. roared, the anger evident in his voice.

"What I should have done long ago. Fighting _you_. I should have never listened to you in the first place!" Parvati shouted.

"I thought you wanted revenge!"

"I did," she said."And I still don't feel sorry that they suffered, but this is no way to live, not by hurting innocent people. It must end."

"Too bad! I will not stop until I get what I want! Give me the lamp!" Master J. demanded, taking a few steps forward.

"No!" Parvati clutched the lamp tightly, using her magic to transport herself to a meadow not far from the castle.

She set the lamp down and fell to her knees, tears in her eyes.

"What made you change your mind? You seemed pretty set on revenge," the genie asked gently.

"I don't know. I saw how much everyone was suffering and I realised that my parents were right to fear us, _me_. Don't get me wrong, after how they've treated us, they deserve what they got, but I also made my people suffer. I should have protected them. I just wanted to find my sister, not to cause a war! I thought Master J. cared for me, but he just used me. What's worse, though, is that he's right. I'm evil. I can't fight it. I don't know what to do. I just want to find my sister!" Parvati sobbed. Unseen, Padma cried too, for she could do nothing to help her sister.

At that moment, Fate smiled, and her destiny changed its course. A light engulfed Parvati.

"My powers," she whispered, as it faded, "are gone."

The genie smiled. "Now you are merely a princess."

She smiled warily. "But how do I fight Master J? How do I save my kingdom? I can't just wish for all of those things. I need one to save my sister."

"You can use your sister's ring." the genie said.

"My sister's ring?" Parvati asked.

"You see, I knew that I had been asked to trap the wrong sister. My master worded his wish poorly. I felt the link between her and the ring you are wearing now, so I let her be with you as a ghost. She was always with you."

"But , how do I use it?"

"Your sister is a natural sorceress. She can focus her magic into you. I can intervene too. I will help restore the kingdom to its original beauty and prosperity. You just need to word everything specifically enough," he said with a small smile.

"Why are you helping us?"

The genie looked her in the eyes. "At first it was because I wanted to defy my master but the truth is that Padma has been with me all of these years. I trapped her in the same realm I live in when I am not summoned by the lamp's possessor. As I am linked with the lamp, she is linked with the ring. We share the same reality. She is...my friend."

Padma smiled. "And you are my friend too," came her whispered response.

Parvati stood. "Okay. Let's do it. I can't stand the thought of him hurting my people any longer. I can do it. I know how he fights. He has been training me for the last ten years. Master J. won't expect me to change. I can surprise him and take him out,"

And so she did. She managed to defeat Master J, and cast him out of her kingdom, bringing peace again to the land of Agrabah. Then, she used her second wish to rebuild the city.

Her parents were cast out by the people who rather preferred Parvati to be their queen than the disgraceful rulers who had shunned out their own daughters over a prophecy.

"I think it's time for my third wish," she said, looking at the genie.

"Whenever you are ready, Mistress."

Parvati put her hand over his. "No, I'm not your mistress anymore. We're friends now."

The genie smiled.

"For my last wish, I want you to free my sister, I want her to have a body again and be healthy by my side. "

The genie bowed. "Your wish is my command."

Instantly, Padma appeared right near Parvati.

The two sisters hugged each other, crying.

"Thank you!" They both said to the genie.

"It was my pleasure. Now, it's your turn to do something for me. I need you to hide my lamp well. There are many who wish to use my power for evil."

"But," Padma started, "can't I wish for you to be free?"

The genie shook his head.

"No, it doesn't work like that. You and your sister are like one. No more wishes for you. Trust me, I'll be fine. I'm used to it. I just don't want to be a tool anymore."

Parvati lightened up. "I have an idea. Take my ring. You said Padma was linked to it. This way we will always be connected. "

It was decided. They took the lamp and the ring and put them in a cave far away from the castle and any prying eyes. Padma sealed the entrance to the cave with their blood so only those related to them could enter it.

"I guess this is the end, sister,"said Padma. "We're free."

Parvati shook her head. "No, this but a beginning my dear sister."

Padma nodded. "You're right. It is indeed a beginning. A most happy beginning for us both."


End file.
